Maria Senena
Corbalan Garcia

Senena Corbalán is a Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UMU, and her research field covers membrane-interacting proteins. Throughout her career, she has studied the lipid regulation of membrane proteins involved in essential processes in the cell, such as ion fluxes, proliferation, migration, and signal integration. These proteins include Ca2+-ATPase, guanine nucleotide exchange factor SOS, Ras protein, protein kinase C, insulin receptor, intermediate conductance potassium channels, rabphilin 3A, SNAP-25, and synaptotagmin. In recent years, her group has been studying the role of these proteins in diseases such as cancer and neurodegeneration. She has authored many publications in this field, as seen in her Google Scholar Profile. She currently holds the position of Vice-Rector for Research at the University of Murcia from March 2022-. She was Vice-Rector for Internationalisation at the University of Murcia from April 2018 to January 2020. Vice-Rector for Research and Internationalisation of the University of Murcia from January 2020 to February 2022. She led the application process for UMU's incorporation into the European University Alliance EUniWell in 2021 and has been a steering board member till February 2025. She has been a member of the National Conference of Rectors CRUE R&I executive committee since September 2020. She is a member of the EUA Research and Innovation Strategic Group (RISG) since October 2022-. Senena has also been the UMU representative in the member states group that prepared the Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment and currently represents UMU in the Coalition for the Advancement of Research Assessment (CoARA) and CRUE in the CoARA task force and in the coordination of the Spanish National Chapter.